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He Dreamed Strange Migrations

by Red Beard and the Birds of Appetite

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1.
Peregrine 04:26
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Wake up Here's bread and honey for your breakfast Light roast coffee in ceramic Uh huh Autumn comes And the days grow mild Look out At the blue embrace of the horizon Think I just fell in love with the sunshine Think I just fell in love with Autumn comes And the days grow mild Shoes on I met you at the fire station We ran the streets and ate some bagels Think I just fell in love with Autumn comes And the days grow mild Oh, the bread out here is good It's like manna from the heavens So hide your hand in mine In case the Israelites Don't wanna share Later on Above the swollen Eno River I saw the golden eye of a falcon She looked me in the eye High above The river wild Peregrine Whose arrow head and wings of silver– I saw her cutting through the sunshine Think she just fell in love with Autumn comes And the days grow mild High above The river wild Oh, the weather here is good Every storm has its own thunder So hide in your hand in mine In case the lightning strikes It'll hit us both
2.
Waiting for the Sunrise 02:49
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I've been waiting for the sunrise For such a long time For as long as I can count All of my dreams about its shape and size Have all been proven lies By the thing that I see now When I wake up, then you should be there Your eyes and ears and mouth and long hair When I met you I was unprepared To wager things that I had not dared I've been waiting for to see your eyes For such a long time For as long as I can count All of my dreams about their shape and size Have all been beggared by The things that I see now When I wake up, then you should be there Your eyes and ears and mouth and long hair When I met you I was unprepared And I was once, but now I am not scared Let's do what only mountaineers dare Climb into the heights with thin air I was once, but I am not scared Of the things that I see now
3.
First Day 03:50
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I went down to the village With the river beside it The river ran backwards On the first day of spring And I heard The river had a daughter And they named her Delight The sun taught her dancing And the clouds how to cry I went down to the village Where the farm boys were tilling And the plows all ran backwards On the first day of spring And I heard The earth has a daughter And they named her Belong The trees all embrace her And the flowers play her song I didn't notice the cherry tree blossoms Till they were wide open and fine The earth gives her blood to the cherry tree blossoms And they bloom / sing in pink and in white And I heard I went down to the village Where the windmills were spinning And the breeze it blew backwards On the first day of spring And I heard The sky has a daughter And they named her Believe The wind has its influence Though it can't be seen The sun has a daughter The secret midwife of the other three Which of these daughters will I marry In a sweet polyamory? Which of these daughters will I marry In the spring's polyamory?
4.
Red Wolf 02:18
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Have you ever seen the red wolf? Have you ever seen the red wolf? They were released back into the wild In 1987, the year before I was born And I had to wonder would I meet one I had to wonder would I meet one Down there, beside the creek There was something sniffing around my tent Was it a ghost or a racoon Or the red wolf taking in my scent? Was it a ghost or a racoon Or the red wolf taking in my scent?
5.
Till Your Body is Gone 02:24
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6.
Mountain Stream 02:31
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There's light on the morning water But is there time enough for the work of love? The trees have lost their shadows to the clouds And it is quiet now with the sun turned out All the little birds are watching and waiting All the little birds are watching with desire in their eyes For the sudden return of the light The dramatic incursion of light That will come It's cold in the mountain water With all the ferns beside, you should turn aside The spiderwebs seem stronger here somehow Like they were cut from cloth that your mother lost All the dragonflies are hovering and mating All the dragonflies are watching with desire in their eyes There's a thousand of you in each eye But you're the farthest thing from their minds They're in love There's stone here beneath the water And it has cradled us, made a place for us The rhododendron blossoms near the surface Seen only by us, it seems only for us All the mountain stones Are sightlessly waiting All the mountain stones Are waiting with desire in their sides To be held up and turned in the light Their perfection a marvel of time Just like us
7.
Wands of Willow 04:18
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All these ordinary spells Require snake skin and crushed up snails All these ordinary birds On the forest floor that go unobserved You'd need wands of willow Staves of hazel wood Shards of crystal Stews of mud and flower They bring a strange power, a secret power And they make new life And they make new life Particles reorganized And they make new life All these ordinary spells The seer's pool in the mushroom's mouth All these ordinary words Require papers peeled from the river birch You'd need fiddle ferns And the skull of an owl Stinging nettle picked at just the right hour They bring a strange power, the raven's power And they make new life And they make new life Particles reorganized And they make new life All of this the child knows As she loses her teeth, loses the trail That the grown folks know All of this the child sees Sign of the heron, sign of the moon And the sourwood tree All this ordinary earth How she hides her stones in a deerskin purse All this ordinary thirst How the sun's own fire resembles her's
8.
Maker of Small Things 05:01
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Maker of small things Please take me away Maker of small things Today's my day Because all my cigarettes taste bad (and I'm sad) Because all my cigarettes taste bad Maker of small things I've tried the fruit from every tree This garden feels like a shopping mall Where the stores have nothing that I need Because all my cigarettes taste bad (and I'm sad) Because all my cigarettes taste bad Of all the stories told at the end of time The news channels should broadcast mine I'm the everyman, with his heart of stone Who tried everything and found all the chisels dull Maker of small things Please take me away I've had birthdays and Christmas, And even a wedding day I swear, all my cigarettes taste bad (and I'm sad) Because all my cigarettes taste bad Maker of small things Are there easy ways to die? To let go of the smallest things Your huge hands have contrived? Because all my cigarettes taste bad Every one in the whole pack Deep in the middle of the night I held my head over the fire and I tasted light What did it taste like? You can guess or you can place your bets It tasted like I'd swallowed a whole pack of cigarettes Of all the stories told at the end of time The news channels should forget mine I'm just a father who cooked frozen pizza One or two or three too many times Who bought rain boots for his daughter And drank some lukewarm beer And who only read a couple books last year But he's still glad, he's still glad And honestly he always thought that cigarettes taste bad But he's still glad, he's still glad And honestly he always thought that cigarettes taste bad
9.
I Prayed for Rain 03:54
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Every desert has its center and its sides Dunes and oases and empty cattle hides And I've got one in me Where I've been lost for weeks I prayed for rain None came From a cloudless sky none came There are no maps for this, and certainly no stars Empty the wells in here, and bottomless the dark I can't see my hands Oh God, where is the horizon? I prayed for rain None came From a cloudless sky none came I would climb out but The mountain's underneath me Drill through the crust until you reach the other side Seek for the wholeness that wind can't subdivide The patient learn to thrive Learn to drink their blood instead of water I prayed for rain None came From a cloudless sky none came
10.
Spectrum of Living Light 03:26
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I saw the horizon melt in me You were the reason for everything I saw the spectrum of living light I saw the sun make a rainbow at night This is the sound of the softest rain This is the sound of the softest rain Falling on you I felt the ground move under me I heard the earth crack, it was thundering I saw the spectrum of living light I saw the sun make a rainbow at night This is the sound of the softest rain This is the sound that my hand makes When I touch you I saw the spectrum of living light I saw your body make a rainbow at night
11.
The Earth is Cold (Strange Migrations) 03:36
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The earth is cold Can you believe what you're seeing? How the waters are changing The trees aren't green here anymore The earth is cold It's blue at its edges There's smoke on the ridges And I can't see you anymore The heartbeat in my hands Feels the sunlight expire The heartbeat in my legs Feels the snow piling deep in the dark The earth is cold With grasses of diamond A sense of confinement From the window where you watch The earth is cold With fires that smolder The days getting shorter Like every one has less of you The heartbeat in my hands Feels the sunlight expire The heartbeat in my legs Feels the snow piling deep in the dark You had in mind A far-off destination And traced the line With the magnet in your blood Your burning eye Since the day that you were born Beheld another light You can see the color North Dissolve in white With Sister Wind beside you And Brother Time Crying, "Take your things and go!" The earth is cold I've been seeing visions Of the strangest migrations In a hidden atmosphere The earth is cold Can you believe what you're seeing? How the waters are changing The way we learn to love The heartbeat in my hands Sometimes feels like flowers on fire The heartbeat in my legs feels like I could walk right into skies of winter stars
12.
Hunger 05:25
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When I left bread out for the dogs They left me hungry Hungrier than I had ever been I had to find my way back Through clouds and fire Through prisons made entirely of wind There are things I have told no other soul on this planet I have looked for the blackbird and it still hasn't landed And the bell in tower, it's been broken since last Easter I have no heart to fix it, neither will, funds, no leisure And I have known, since long ago To eat of love is to know the taste of hunger There are two arches in the sky We drank cold whiskey Let the rain transgress our open eyes It falls upon the living and dead I have known hunger Longer than I've known the name for it It's just hard to be alone As if every night I come to it for the first time ever It's just hard to be alone And I made up every misinterpretation I could think of It's just hard to be apart And the likelihood diminishes with every day that passes we'd restart You could make me a map of the forest inside you So I could find my way again You could make me a map of the forest inside you So I could find you when you're gone Remember Then I remember The light at the end of the hallway Where we walked and we whispered as if nothing existed Would you pray to my image? Would you worship at my feet for just one minute? Would you pray to my image? Would you worship at my feet for just one minute? I'm shaken off To beggarly divorcement In the sight of seven riders, seven horsemen I'm shaken off To beggarly divorcement In the sight of seven riders, seven horsemen
13.
I Saw the Stars 04:15
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That's when karma came back for me The moon was swallowed in the sea And I saw the stars I saw the Dipper, the Pleiades I pleaded darling, come back please I saw the stars I go to sleep Where the corn rests, out in the barn I get up for work and it's still dark The cows call out to me that it's still dark I see the stars I want your gray hair, and not your brown I want your country music frown I want your heartbreak, the whole dang pile I was your sunscreen lotion smile I saw the stars I go to sleep Where the corn rests, out in the barn I get up for work and it's still dark The cows call out to me that it's still dark I see the stars I took the lightning between my teeth Strung up the weather sewing machine And I sewed a storm I took a rain cloud and wrung it dry I wiped your ink dark ocean eye I sewed a storm To try and keep you warm I go to sleep Where the corn rests, out in the barn I get up for work and it's still dark The cows call out to me that it's still dark I see the stars It's still dark I see the stars I saw Orion, I saw the Dove I saw Cassiopeia I saw the stars A queen built of hot spare parts I saw the Queen was turned upside down Wearing her sun-dried seaweed crown I saw the stars And you seem just as far It's still dark I see the stars
14.
Occoneechee Mountain Song 02:55
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There's a cliff at Occoneechee Mountain A cliff where I might have died If the fence fell down And the trees gave out In a freak accident rock slide Rock slide, rock slide Would bury me alive I'll be lost and found Till the Eagle Scouts Volunteer to retrieve my hide There's a river at Occoneechee Mountain A river where I might have drowned Where the trees and sky like a mirror hide All the watery depths below Flipside, flipside Would swallow me alive I'll be soaked and drowned Till the Eagle Scouts Quick and learn how to scuba dive There's a serpent at Occoneechee Mountain That lurks round the Tree of Life And if your foot missteps or your hand's outstretched You'll be swole' with a poison bite Snakebite, snakebite Has got me hanging on the edge I'll be lost and found till the Eagle Scouts Get their First Aid Merit Badge

credits

released December 14, 2020

Aaron D. Jones – Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Banjo, Bass, Piano, Baritone Horn, Percussion (Snare, Shaker, Tambourine, Wooden Spoons, Teacup, Metal Lid, Ink pens, Pizza Box, Cheese Grater)

Laura Wiederhoeft – Backup vocals (on #7)

Benjamin Wu – Cello (on #10)

Derek Skeen – Upright Bass (on #10)

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Red Beard and the Birds of Appetite Durham, North Carolina

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