1. |
Beautiful Things
03:36
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I’d have made a killer lawyer
Arguing’s my second language
All I need’s to want it more
Than not at all,
But I can’t change it.
I’d have found a cure for cancer
Workin hard out In a lab
Plug my drive into a field
Where I can make a good impact
If there was anything, and I mean anything
I could do other than this
I’d be listening
Bears have to fish
Fish have to swim
Birds have to fly on their wings
And I have to try
To make beautiful things
I could teach you how to do it
If my passion was for teaching
I could be a CEO
but then you know
I’d be over-reaching
I could run for public office
Charismatic to the bone
If I thought I could make a difference
I’d assume a leader’s tone
Sometimes I wish
I’d be happy as anything
Other than what I am
committed to being
Athlete’s and astronauts
Both share ambition that
Starts when they’re young in their dreams
And I only dreamt of the chance
To make beautiful things
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2. |
The Comeback
02:50
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Holy water coming down
Like rain in the Sahara
Good enough
To replace air
And as miraculous
As Jesus out there
Standin’ on the sea or
Turning water into wine
Giving vision to the blind
I’m coming back
New
Fresh
Live
And if you see me this time
Come on over
I don’t mind
I ain’t contagious it’s fine
I ain’t carrying
All I got’s this
Piece of mind
Glory glory hallelujah
Everything is shining
Color blazing
And I’m flying
And I’m trying
To keep riding
On this high
And I feel like
I’ll never die
And when I gather up the sky
I’m on attack
I’m coming back
New, fresh, live
(Chorus)
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3. |
Unknown
04:14
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65 years, 4 children deep
Now you’re calling it out
65 years of toting the party line
Up until this moment
Had worked just fine
You’re killin’ all
The promises of your past
A sudden truth like lightning
Hits you hard and hits you fast
And it can’t be unknown
Said you heard a tale
Or two on the radio
Reminded you of you
A reflection with a heavy load
65 years of faith
On the chopping block
A ship setting sail for unknown waters
Never to return to the dock
(Repeat Chorus)
The real world is scary,
Full of uncertainty
A chemical reaction,
A divine conspiracy,
A coincidence of chaos
Surviving in an infinite void
The breathe of a giant beast
An echo of an ancient noise
Killin’ all the promises of your past
Comin clean, seeing clear
That love is all
You have that lasts
Takin on a cosmic fall from grace
A deeper calling kept you planted
Kept you in this open place
Embrace the unknown
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4. |
People Pleaser
04:56
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Being a people pleaser’s
A fancy way of being a liar
Tryna do and say the things
That make everybody happy is a waste
Try to keep it altogether
Like a tight rope walker walkin’ on a wire
Above direct communication
You’d rather only say it sideways
Seems like the opposite
Of how it should be
Seems like a people pleaser
Should be a pleasing thing to be
(Possible chorus)
Oh, oh my my
Seems like the more I know
The less I know about
Oh, oh my my
Seems like the more I know
The less I know about
Being co-dependent’s
A one way ticket to being single
Wanting something to be right so much
You push it from your life,
Here’s the thing though...
If anyone is gonna stay with you
That’s not something that you can control
The results are not your business
You know it’s gotta happen on its own
Seems like the opposite of what it should be
Seems like a co-dependent person
Should have more help than they need
(Chorus)
Being sensitive should only mean that
I’m in touch with my emotions
Shouldn’t mean that I take everything
Way too personally
Being self-absorbed should mean
That I’ve got passion and devotion
And being self-righteous should mean
I’ve got a great self-esteem
(Chorus)
Anything you think
If it’s not right don’t try it out loud
They can always replace
What you’re talking about
And in a moment
A mighty under tow
Comes and sweeps you away
Out to sea
So effortlessly
All of this has to work out
Eventually
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5. |
New Groove
05:37
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Here lies the wreckage
Of the person that I was
Who wore his heartache
In his torn and battered shoes
A honest salesman’s what I’m
Angling to become
Ain’t got no snake oil to move
I got a new groove
Quiet, confident command
Got a new groove
Crossing hope with only what I can
Another hand
So let it be heard
So let it be done, amen
As in the present
I’m beginning to ascend
The dream becoming clearer
Like my memory
I see in all directions now
I got a new groove
Take a breath and hold it in
Let it out smooth
Here comes fear it’s only
Natural
Don’t you worry
Running’s just an instinct
But I am beginning to believe
That when you finally
Release you won’t hate what
You find
Turn the noise down low
Baby boy, don’t you know
I’ve been here the whole time
I watched you learn
Watched you grow
Everything is okay
I won’t leave you no way
I’ve been here the whole time
There’s nothing that you need to say
We should move real slow
To the center of the glow
Rocking like a young child
Well now you know
Everything is okay
Another night another day
I’ll be with you then, too
We’re on our way
Gotta let it all go
Everything you think you know
Try to be here now
In the center of the glow
Everything is okay
Another song begins to play
And it syncs with your heart
We’re on our way
We’re on our way
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6. |
Let's Move
03:12
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When our eyes align
It always takes me back to the first time
Some music and a string of light
A smile and a laugh
Skipping forward I
Would never have imagined this apartment
The color of our bed sheets
The photos on the wall
Now it’s a winter night
But only cold enough for a light jacket
I think this is the happiest December
That I have had in years
But you just say the word and I
Will pack up all our shit and head for salt lake
Location’s not important
As long as I’m with you
If you say “jump”
I’ll ask “how high am I jumping?”
So don’t tell me there’s nothing we can do
If you gotta move
Then let’s move
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7. |
The Crack in the Sequoia
04:04
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I don’t want to do this with you
I don’t want to do this with you
When I see seeds of discord sewn
And I know that they are my own
I don’t know how to make it right
I just know how to push and fight
But I don’t want to do that with you
No I don’t want to that with you
Just take the money and run
The loner gunman named me
In his manifesto
He says that jerks like me
Will always be
The reason he’s so depressed
Don’t let go on
Oh the way that little crack
Uprooted that sequoia
That was strewn across the road
That we were traveling on
The omen metaphor of something tiny
Destroying one so mighty
With enough time and pressure
Gone unchecked
Sure made an echo
Oh...
I don’t wanna do this with you
I don’t wanna do this with you
Don’t write me off so quickly
Citing your distaste for my opinion
I’m still the man you fell for
Underneath the rust from your disdain
Don’t let it go on
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8. |
Before I Let You Go
05:29
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Before I let you go
You gotta know,
You don’t know
I’m hurtin head to toe
And I love you
You’re such an animal
Here take my heart in your teeth
I’m hurtin hard just to be
A part of you
Before I let you go
I gotta let you know
Can you come over here close
So I can whisper in your ear
Ain’t no one else like you
Can do the things you do
You got that magic, too
You got that gotta have it
Before I let you go
Can we just take it slow
Think I just over-dosed
But I still want you the most
I love the way your heart beat sounds at night
I love the way your laugh sounds
Oh my god and
I love the way you tell me it’s alright
Even when it’s a lie
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9. |
Sweet Rejection
04:13
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Call it bad luck
Call it a self-fulfilling prophecy, I guess
Call it a shame
Call it good old-fashioned
Lack of talent
I could really not care less
Chris says it ain’t happened
Cuz I’m not playin enough shows
Whether he is right or not
I don’t believe that anybody really knows
Oh, sweet rejection
You might be my oldest friend
So how can one so well acquainted
Still retain such thin skin
There goes another year
Waiting for the tide to come in
You get old
Thinking that the best is yet to come
You forget
You’re not in control of when you’re done
Could be from a stray bullet
From a fight five blocks away
Your dreaming about tomorrow
Thinking what you should have done
Yesterday
Oh, sweet rejection
My familiar little prayer
Trying to imagine what my life
Would be if you weren’t there
Here goes another year
Keepin’ it all up in the air
The thing is I
Kind of think I like it
Being fortune’s favorite fool
Makes for one hell of an excuse
There’s an incentive to stay
Out here on the run
And trying to wrap a line
Around that big old burning sun
Because if you can see
That I’m not done
Then you might just agree
And between and me
We can call it bad luck
Or a deterministic immutable law
Call it anything
Just don’t you dare say it’s anyone’s fault
Oh, sweet rejection
Have you come to sing me home?
I always thought much better of you
In times when I was not alone
Here comes another year
Making it all up as I go
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10. |
My Dead Friend
05:24
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My dead friend
Isn’t looking like he’s supposed to
Pile of ash in a plastic bag in a wicker basket
And his laugh
Is only comin’ out my phone now
And he doesn’t say if he feels better now
when I ask him
My dead friend
Didn’t say where he was going
not an address or a number to keep in touch
And this sucks
Got me wrestling with a question
Is he forever thirty two in a void?
Or just dust?
I guess I just thought that I’d see you
at some random house show
Nursing a beer or out smoking a bummed cigarette
I thought that I’d wrap
my arms
Around your sullen torso
To let you know there ain’t one thing in this world
You could do to remove you
From my ride or die gang
Could’ve sworn I saw the same exact
Black bird three times
Swooping down through the blue,
Battle-worn desert sky
Well I was tired of being mad anyway
And I know that you were just plain tired
So rest now,
Just rest now
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11. |
||||
If I found a ship
I'd take you with
and we'd be gone
until i don't know when
we'd be grounded at sea
surrounded by the open breeze
with the fish and the birds all swimming
and flying around
and we can't go back
cuz the dock and it's waves
would be so mad they'd ask
"Why'd you leave this
seaful life you had?"
We'd climb atop the mast
and watch the world as it sailed past
and we'd see as far as possible
We'd spot an island
where non one's ever been
and then we'd make our own flag
and claim it as our home
We'd restock all of our supplies
and we'd be gone just for one night
then we'll get back to this seaful
life we have
and if a storm should come our way
we know we'll be okay
it's just rain, it's just rain
yeah it falls and gets washed away
and we can't go back
cuz the dock and it's waves would be so mad they'd ask
why'd you leave this seaful life you had?
why'd you leave this seaful life you had?
no we wont leave this life we have.
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12. |
Proud Nobody
02:59
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I'm a proud proud nobody
And I'm standing on the shoulders
Of no one in particular, too
Just one of tins of folks the history books
will never know
we're the majority
I'm your parents and your teachers
Your friends, and yeah I am you
There's no shame in being a nobody
Getting caught up in a randomly
strung together narrative's futile
No shame in being born the way you were born
there's no purity
Everything is just what it is
At least for a while
Put your hands up
if you're gonna be forgotten
then put your hands together
to celebrate the average jane and joe
think of every person you know
that nobody will write a book about
think of this song that most folks will never know
we are a proud collective of nobodies
salt of the earth
the ones who are turning the wheel
when we think of our worth
consider everyone who's just like you and me
at the end of the day pride is all we should feel
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13. |
Whatever You Can Do
04:00
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It goes back to Hannah
Holding out a hand
I was looking for an out
And calling it romance
I said I've got a full bottle
And you've got an empty apartment
She recognized my downward Spiral
And pulled me off of the pavement and said
Whatever you can do to get by
At least from now til then
Whatever you can do to to get by
Without picking up again
I'm telling you that there's a horizon
That I know you ain't seeing yet
I'm telling you the sun is arriving
And you'll be here when it sets
It goes back to Michael
Saying it's alright
You can call me anytime
And say what's on your mind
I got calls from several strangers
Several times a day
Saying we're just checking in on you
And making sure you're okay
They'd say
Whatever you can do to get by, man
At least until tomorrow arrives
Whatever you can do to keep breathing
Without needing to be high
I said if there's a God above will he save me
Even if I don't exactly believe
They said you can call it whatever you prefer, Austin
Just don't leave
Whatever you can do to get by
At least until our next phone call
Whatever you can do to survive
And keep your back against the wall
I know that you don't wanna think that I know you
Or that we have anything in common at all
But you and I are birds of a feather
And together we won't fall
Oh, whatever you can do to get by
Whatever you can do to survive
Whatever you can do to get by, man
Whatever you can do
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14. |
||||
Waiting
In a non-descript
Hotel room
Evaluating pros and cons of
A decision you’ve just made
Is the thrill of something new worth
Risking all your hard-earned happiness?
Could it be there’s something more than happiness?
Heaven’s in a moment hell is all the rest.
Three knocks
And it’s already too late
You could tell her
You have made a big mistake
But as she moves toward the bed
You can almost hear
The levy’s start to break
It’s all so very surreal
You can’t help the way you feel
Could it be there’s something more than happiness?
Heaven’s in a moment, hell is all the rest
Two of us are on a collision course
And there’s nothing
Strong enough to keep us from
The moment of impact
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15. |
New Content
03:33
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I've been doing my favorite thing
For way, way too long
The returns are diminishing quickly
The thrill is gone
I never thought
There'd come a day
Where I'd say all
I wanted to
Just keep on making new content
Just keep on making new art
Just keep on making new content
It doesn't have to be so hard
And it's funny how trying to be somebody
Who everyone relates to is impossibly futile
So I try to relax and let it happen how it happens
It just happens to take such a long while
Just keep on making new content
Just keep on making new art
Just keep on making new content
It doesn't have to be hard
Just keep on making new content
It doesn't have to have heart in it
Just keep on making new content
It doesn't have to be so hard
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16. |
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If you’re thinkin I’ll blow it
In less than a year
Wanna bet?
Wanna bet?
I’ll stake my life savings
That I’ll still be here
In a year
Eye to eye with you
I’ll still belong to you
I’m never certain of anything certain
I Can’t help but see the man
Behind the curtain
But I’ve never believed in anything
So damn much
If you’re saying my heart’s
Gonna change in five years
Wanna bet?
Wanna bet?
I’ll stake our first child
That I’ll still be here in five years
Eye to eye with you
I’m so alive with you
I always scoff
At magical thinkin
I much prefer cold hard facts
And hard drinkin
But I’ve never wanted anything
So damn much
Oh, my my
Oh, my love, la de lie
Oh, my my
My love, oh my my
If you think 60 years
Is too long a time
Wanna bet?
Wanna bet?
If you think that two souls
Can not love for that long
Grow your jaded ass up
And know that you’re wrong
Because 60 years is
Not nearly enough
I’m tellin you, darlin
My life ain’t too much
And I’ve never cared for anyone
So damn much
No I’ve never loved anyone
So damn much
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17. |
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Home made hair cuts
and stick and poke tattoos
getting drunk
and playing shows
in punk house living rooms
LSD in the park
tripping in plain view
given a shit wasn’t ever something
I was prone to do
When I was cool,
When I was cool,
I weighed a buck fifteen
wore skinny jeans
and roamed these streets with you
when I was cool
I remember twenty two
writing twenty songs a day
Drinkin old crow whiskey
while tucker’s rollin up a a J
Even then I knew that things
were never gonna change
ain’t it funny
just how quickly never fades away
When I was cool,
When I was cool,
Back when the parties went all night
Back when I lived to break the rules
When I was cool
I recall at least three women
falling in love with me
And I recall a confidence
that made it seem easy
I remember snuffing heartbreak out
with youthful energy
As if every rare embrace or kiss
had meant nothing to me
When I was cool,
When I was cool,
I was a stupid punk ass kid
admittedly a no good fool
When I was cool
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Austin Archer Salt Lake City, Utah
Austin Archer is an artist from Salt Lake City, UT, living in LA. He has been writing and recording music since he was 15
years old. More music can be heard at chthonicdeadhouseband.bandcamp.com usthieves.bandcamp.com
bosstv.bandcamp.com
and
naturalhistorymusic.bandcamp.com
... more
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