Saint Bartlett
Saint Bartlett opens up with a grandiosity yet unheard on a Damien Jurado album. It strips away the many layers of paint from the house down the street where we know Jurado has occupied for the last decade. The new coat is exhilarating. It makes the whole neighborhood shine. It's a modest grandiosity; still homegrown. The mellotron swells, heavenly handclaps ring in stereo and big drums create a sky for the songs to fly in. And the words. Words spring forth from within the volcano of Jurado, full of hope. There's so much hope, in fact, that album opener "Cloudy Shoes" turns into a call-and-response with himself, as though it were a dialogue between two halves of himself.
Cloudy Shoes
I wish that I could float
Float up from the ground
I will never know
What that's like
You have a way about you
I wish that I had
Thought it was impossible
To live and love like you
Funny how we all can change
If we just try to
Thought it was impossible
To live and love like you
One day you will be taller
Taller than the sky
Until that day you will be
Here with us below
Magic will do what magic does
Living in your eyes
Do you think someday soon
You will have the time?
I could use another hand
To help pull me through
Someday theses hospital stays
Get the best of me
Trying to fix my mind
Still trying to fix my mind
Arkansas
I don't recall the last time we spoke
You said it's my fault, I still don't believe you
Oh Arkansas
We both know this was a mistake
I'd love to come home but I need an escape
Oh Arkansas
Fade out
This is where the credits roll our names
Taller than trees and brighter than starlight
I never feel magic unless I'm with you
Oh Arkansas
Tell me you mean it when you tell me you loved me
I wanna believe you, I wanna believe you
Oh Arkansas
Fade out
This is where the credits roll our names
I don't recall the last time we spoke
You said it's my fault, I still don't believe you
Oh Arkansas
Tell me you mean it when you tell me you loved me
I wanna believe you, I wanna believe you
Oh Arkansas
Fade out
This is where the credits roll our names
Rachel & Cali
Rachel would it be alright if I stayed here in the car
There's too many people out there I don't know
It's not that I'm too shy or cannot be polite
I just don't feel confident in crowds
Cali you can do what you'd like I'll probably be here awhile
I leave you my car keys in case you want to leave
You're welcome to stay at my house my parents will both be out
There's a blanket in the closet if you decide to sleep over
Rachel I am sorry to call, I can't sleep at all
The closet is unfamiliar, my parents are soon to be home
Cali there's no way you'll be caught, my closet door has a lock
I'll keep my window open so you can get in
Sometimes I wish you knew how I keep living for you
A friend is only a lover you're not committed to
Throwing Your Voice
I've got news for you, we all know
Stop acting like you've never heard this before
Blood on your hands, leaving your mark
It's when you cross the line where the trouble starts
Michael, you had a voice, and learned to lie
It was the day that I fell apart that we almost died
I would like to think people change
But I've seen no evidence so the point remains
You can come back when you need
Michael, I've had enough, it's time to go
They've made it very clear, they don't want you here
You can throw your voice all you'd like
I don't see them returning anytime
Shake off your doubt, grab a hold
Sometimes the hardest part is letting you go
You can always come back when you need
I'll leave the light on, leave the light on
You can come back when you need
Wallingford
What I need is a had that will hold on
Reaching out and not letting go
Many times I find I am let down
By the ones, who keep me close
Are you kept and told like a secret
Do you find that you're kept in the dark
Calling out, your voice is an echo
No words come back, but your own
As a whole
Free to fly buy your wings have't grown out
Many windows in the house
Please tell us what concerns you
Not to help, but to look the part
Anxiously awaiting your arrival
You look like you could use a rest
Overwhelmed by all the excitement
Better friends to take your place
As a whole
Pear
I don't need a safer place to land
All my life was built on the sinking sand
What you see is what you get
If I do come home please leave the light on
You tell so and so to leave our bed
You should've said, you should've said
Kansas City
Kansas City, I fought back the tears
I know that I should have been thrilled
I can't smile, knowing all the while
Everything you did, you did for you
Kansas City, he asks me how I've been
I lie and then say that I've been fine
Words that trailed off, that's as far as we got
I know that I should have been thrilled
Kansas City, I am not her son
I belong to my mother who's now gone
All was left to me and that's why he had returned
I know I should have been thrilled
Kansas City, thanks for your concern
I will learn to get by on my own
Orphaned by my state, common by his name
I know someday I will return
Harborview
Far out and failing
so they lead you away
Speak for me would you
I have nothing to say
And you would not notice
My hands have let go
Feel free to replace them
they are idle and slow
Mothers and fathers
you sisters all lost
The pending opinions
Are you worth what they've got
And they would not notice
Your hands open wide
Some Judas before them
with thorns in your side
Feel free to lay down
you could use a rest
Speak for me would you
since you've taken my breath
And you would not notice
my hands have let go
Feel free to replace them
they are idle and slow
Kalama
Mother, do you know how
all of this has changed us
I was a fool who would always defend you
was I wrong, too, like the others
Sisters and brothers abandoned
Forgive my living, keep me from breathing
a house that is standing is no house at all
Mother, is it easy
knowing that I will die soon
Will you keep me as ashes
placed on the mantle or thrown out
Mother, do you know now
love is not painless, it's poison
Forgive my living, keep me from breathing
a house that is standing is no house at all
The Falling Snow
When you fell, you fell so hard
Reaching for me in the falling snow
I would have stayed, you said I should go
How will you make it home?
Leaving your way, I heard you got lost
Losing your voice to the ground below
And I stayed awake until you were home
It was days and days and..
Come down from your mountain
you've been gone too long
If you're well then you should say so
don't leave me hanging on
Out from my open window
we could hear you breathing
Hope gone but it does not hold on
Every mountain falls
Somebody said you would be gone
Beacon Hill
I'm keeping you close, you're falling behind
I lost my voice, you lost your mind
You say your're not well, I say that you're fine
You're walking with me through the isles of a drugstore
If you return to me
Your mother's a fake, a phantom who steals
the smile on your face is not what you feel
I'll check you in if you check me out
You're some lonesome wrist cutter who says I'm her brother
If you return to me
Was I the ghost or one of your voices
you hear in your head when you're out killing horses?
Who's taking my place? Who's taking you home?
I don't think it's safe to turn out the nightlight
If you return to me
I read your reviews, I studied the lines
I know them so well, my life's now a tragedy
One for the road, two for the plane
And I will be fine, as long as you take me.
If you return to me
It's all right
With Lighting in Your Hands
Throw down your soul
Keep it in the soil
Will you return with a storm
Pockets full of silver
Treasures made of gold
Will you return with a might storm
Hiding in your shadow
Caught in your trees
Will you return with a mighty storm