1. |
Brushstrokes
03:45
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A man with a good tooth
Was waiting on the train at the same stop that I was
I couldn’t tell who wanted to talk less—me or him
He wrote in a notebook
Filled pages as he sat without even looking up
And on the cover he’d wrote “pictures of me and you”
After the third delay
Grew a smile on his face
Squared his shoulders across the bench
And so I did the same
Shared a laugh and our names
I asked about what the notebook meant
Said I can picture (yeah I can picture) just where I was
When all the brushstrokes
Would contour in the same way, the same way
I had a fresh coat, a clean start
But I knew it’d fall apart like it always does
I keep the portraits, they come with me when I go
The sun set on south bank
Now he’s digging for a flask
Buried in his overcoat or maybe in a duffel bag
With someone’s name etched on either side
Poured a little on the bricks
Then he offers it to me
I pretended not to hear and told a story about you
Cuz all my best ones are
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2. |
Circle Like A Hawk
03:22
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After the chairs get stacked up on the tables
Floors slick with cleaner, private space once held
For drunk conversations, half-remembered stories
Nights trailing off towards endings to retell
In the hour between want and working
I can start to plot a path from here
To illuminate our loss and learning
These power lines are chandeliers
I circle like a hawk over the highway
I circle like a hawk over the highway
Talk over bands, make jokes about New Jersey
Mutual friends, our favorite lines and chords
Stare down a season huddled in a twin bed
Whole but suspended, bracing for the war
Like a migratory bird returning
From an unforgiving habitat
For those dual oncoming lights i'm looking
Forever staring down that track
I circle like a hawk over the highway
I circle like a hawk over the highway
I circle like a hawk over the highway
I circle like a hawk over the highway
Arms stretching out from back when
Days turning over again
Two different sides of a lens
Focusing in
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3. |
Older
03:26
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We can’t just cut
four blocks
walk to that private beach with the dock
where you would kick off your shoes, I’d keep watch for passing cars
And I never joined you despite the way
That river breeze still flicks ‘cross my face
How I repelled all the things you embraced
Look where it got me
Hair over your shoulder
God, I got older
And I can see pretty far now
without turning around
So what’s the difference?
From your perspective
Between the last time we tried and all those same reasons you know we shouldn’t now
Well you got some sun
I’ve been indoors
I feel each step on the hardwood floor
for all the times I wanted nothing more
I was unprepared
Well nobody tells you
That it’s the last time
Until you look back ’n that time was the last
So you recant, reframe and rehash
Until it sits right
Over your shoulder
We both got older
And it’s not so hard to see how
You’re over the fence
Before I could think
I’m following you up the north side bank
I feel the reeds fold under my feet
As you turned around
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4. |
You Are With Me
03:53
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You are with me in the deep tree creaking
In gnarled roots on every hill
You moved the earth in me when you were speaking
Horizons bending to your will
You are with me
You are with me
You are with me in the great stream falling
Over edges into blue
A bent carnation and the cardinal calling
It all reminded me of you
You are with me
You are with me
Spent that morning getting springtime started
Spreading seeds out on the floor
You always looked ahead a little farther
Felt everything a little more
You are with me
You are with me
You are with me
You are with me
You complained about the sand
Picking glass out of your hand
Love can survive on any scale
And so I trace the magic of the trail
You are with me
You are with me
You are with me
You are with me
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maxwell stern Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Hailing from the post-industrial shores of Cleveland, OH, Maxwell Stern has been writing music and touring since the early 2000s. He has released a slew of LPs and 7"s, and has played shows pretty much everywhere including an abandoned restaurant in Wyoming, a mall in China, several squats in Germany and a pretty nice bookstore in Australia. He is definitely not the person writing this. ... more
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