1. |
un-American Gothic
03:50
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un-American Gothic
We arrived upon the tide
Dying to be free
I made you my young bride and we claimed destiny
Westward through the Plains
We killed everything
We left no remains
We wrote songs we could sing
We were young we were the poorest
It was ours for the taking
We built alters in the forest
We shared in all the making
We assembled our masters
In the cities of regretting
Ever forward, ever faster
We got to good at forgetting
I’m afraid we’ve gone to far
No one can save us now
Yes, I’m afraid we’ve gone to far
No one can save us now
So we rallied ‘round the story
With the armies of our hearts
Through the pain and all the glory
We bled for a new start
And we knew that we were right
But still we got the blues
We danced into the night
We stood too much to lose
Then we found love at the speedway
In the twilight’s last gleaming
Though we ignored where the greed lay
As the fireworks were streaming
Now the poison’s in the water
But we tell ourselves were winning
Selling out our son and daughter
Just to keep the wheels spinning
I’m afraid we’ve gone to far
No one can save us now
Yes, I’m afraid we’ve gone to far
No one can save us now
Did I ever belong to you
‘Cause you never belonged to me
When did we give up on trying
Get blinded by the dream
I’m afraid we’ve gone to far
No one can save us now
There was going to be peace in the valley
We were going to build a better day
Now you’re ducking down a dark alley
I can’t look at you too long
Before I have to turn away
I’m afraid we’ve gone to far
No one can save us now
Yes, I’m afraid we’ve gone to far
No one can save us now
Did I ever belong to you
‘Cause you never belonged to me
When did we give up on trying
Get blinded by the dream
I’m afraid we’ve gone to far
No one can save us now
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2. |
The Long Goodbye
05:41
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The Long Goodbye
I’d hurt myself
To keep from making you cry
I’m a master of the long goodbye
Some find it easy to walk away
When things are wrong
They just can’t stay
They don’t dwell ‘cause that’s the trick
Rip off the bandage hard and quick
But I’ve never known just how to leave
I stick to the plan ‘cause I believe
Better to hold on at all cost
Than to regret what might be lost
I’d hurt myself to keep from making you cry
Cause I’m a master of the long goodbye
I’d rather stay than learn the reason why
Cause I’m a master of the long goodbye
I thought I knew the way to love
I felt like a hand inside your glove
I knew what I wanted to be true
It’s all that I needed to be with you
If there was a fear I never spoke
A sleeping hound I never woke’
I chose to banish it from me
Making it my sworn enemy
I’d hurt myself to keep from making you cry
I’d rather stay than learn the reason why
Be here for a moment longer
I need to feel a little stronger
I’m a master of the long goodbye
Yes, I’m a master of the long goodbye
Who was I trying to protect
Your or I the selfish architect
Love is honest when you learn
It gives asking nothing in return
I made you crazy I made you wait
I made the night become too late
Can you forgive my coward heart
You had it from the very start
Sometimes aching for a clue
It loved you with everything it knew
I’d hurt myself to keep from making you cry
Cause I’m a master of the long goodbye
I’d rather stay than learn the reason why
Cause I’m a master of the long goodbye
Be here for a moment longer
I need to feel a little stronger
I’m a master of the long goodbye
Yes, I’m a master of the long goodbye
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3. |
Waking Heart
03:50
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Waking Heart
You’ve been holding out
Sleeping for so long
You never even knew
That anything was wrong
And then it came one night
It gave you such a start
You looked all around
But it was the sound
Of your waking heart
Your waking heart
Your waking heart
You never learned to build
The fences in your west
To let in what you need
And to keep out all the rest
Now you’re staking your claims
Re-drawing maps and charts
You’re trying to decide
If I’m on the side
Of your waking heart
Your waking heart
Your waking heart
I make a lot of noise
I stretch out on your land
I know I make it hard
For you to make a stand
So if I have to go
For you to learn the art
I’ll be the one to leave
So you can believe
In your waking heart
Now you’re losing the signal
The volume’s getting weaker
And you’re scared that the voice might disappear
It’s getting hard to listen
With all the interference
And the voice that you heard is no longer clear
I’ll do my best to wait
I try to give you space
I know you need some time
For the truth you’ve got to face
But if you can’t be whole
You know I’d rather be apart
I could never stay
Standing in the way
Of your waking heart
I’d never make you try
You can never lie
To a waking heart.
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4. |
Gorgeous Morning
03:49
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5. |
Any Number Of Ways
04:59
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Any Number of Ways
Winding down the end of time
We drank thirteen bottles of wine
Wrapped in furs and feeling bold
We walked out into the cold
Gathered round the ancient fire
Swaying like a bloodshot choir
And through the flames I recognized
Something different in your eyes
Then we jumped in the river but the river was hard
Frozen like a midnight boulevard
The dogs showed up in an angry pack
They howled at us and we howled back
Then I was sick upon the snow
Bathed in a pale moonlight glow
From what came out I could gleam
Parts of me that I’d never seen//
This could happen in any number of ways
I will close my eyes and not wake up for days//
Just then to my great surprise
I grew two hundred times my size
I stepped over the forest wide
And crossed the valley in one stride
Brushing stars and full of joy
I made it clear to Illinois
When the dawn brought to my mind
All the love that I had left behind//
This could happen in any number of ways
I will bribe tomorrow with all of my yesterdays//
By the time that I returned
Smoke rose where the fire had burned
And all around were silent souls
Staring into ash and coals
The sun rose and we sat awhile
I kissed your sad, sad smile
Before I could say the words
You turned into a flock of birds
Feathered fury beating away//
Yes and this could happen in any number of ways
I will close my eyes and not wake up for days
Yes and this could happen in any number of ways
I will bribe tomorrow with all of my yesterdays
Yesterdays//
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6. |
Same Clothes
04:24
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Same Clothes
On the day that I was born
They say I came out wearing these same clothes
Since then I’ve been trying to find out
Where I got these same clothes
I went to every store asked every tailor there could be
Wondering if somebody had the same clothes as me
And It took a while but I’ve learned
There’s nobody with these same clothes
When I wake this morning
I’ll get up, put on these same clothes
And I’ll step into the sunlight
And start walking in these same clothes
When the air turns cold and the clouds bring the rain
These clothes they will protect me till the skies clear up again
And against the wind I will button up
The collar on these same clothes
When we first met,
I’m sure that I was showing off these same clothes
And when I gave my heart to you
I did so in these same clothes
Before we made love
You peeled off each one from my skin
Till there was nothing left to keep you from coming in
And you saw who I am
In the absence of these same clothes
When they get dirty
I wash them with care
Oh, these same clothes
And when they lose a button or they tear
I mend these same clothes
On those days when I dwell
Not on what is but what is not
I look at other people and I want the clothes they’ve got
Until I realize I could have nothing but these same clothes//
And our children will know what it means
To have a loving home
But there are things
They’ll have to figure out on their own
And I promise I won’t ever try
To make them wear these same clothes//
When I leave this world
Please separate me from these same clothes
Burn them into ash
No one can ever wear these same clothes
If you knew me well
You’ll know how much I cherished you
Remember that I wore these clothes
The only way I knew
And I was happy
And I was blessed
And how I loved to wear these same clothes
Yes, I was happy
And I was blessed
And how I loved to wear these same clothes/
I was happy
And I was blessed
And how I loved to wear these same clothes (alright)//
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7. |
Oceans Ago
03:20
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Oceans Ago
We were made of stars
We were dying in cars
That was oceans ago
And I’m sure you were there
With the sun in your hair
That was oceans ago//
And I think that it happened but I might have dreamed it
I think that it happened but I might have dreamed it
We thought it was good just because it seemed it
I think that it happened but I might have dreamed it//
We believed it was true
We would know what to do
That was oceans ago
And we wouldn’t get caught
We could never be bought
That was oceans ago//
And I think that it happened but I could have dreamed it
I think that it happened but I could have dreamed it
We thought it was good just because it seemed it
I think that happened but I could have dreamed it//
I’ve got a deep misgiving
That someone else has been living my whole life
There were promises made we already betrayed
That was oceans ago, that was oceans ago//
Then the tide went out
Leaving shadows and doubt
In those oceans ago
And the tide came in
With a way to begin
That was oceans ago//
And I think that it happened but I could have dreamed it
I think that it happened but I could have dreamed it
We thought it was good just because it seemed it
I think that it happened but I could have dreamed it
And I think that it happened but I could have dreamed it
I think that it happened but I could have dreamed it
We thought it was good just because it seemed it
I think that it happened but I could have dreamed it//
Oceans ago
Yeah, that was oceans ago
That was oceans ago, oceans ago, oceans ago
We were made of stars
We were dying in cars
That was oceans ago//
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8. |
House Upon the Hill
03:34
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House Upon The Hill
This house
Called us on the other coast
It knew that we’d become a ghost
It said as far as it could tell
We should come out and stay a spell
And it took us in with open arms
High above the lights and car alarms
Of the carnival that can’t be killed
This house upon the hill//
This house
Sends me to the streets below
To go and play another show
But it loves it when we come home fine
To drink another bottle of wine
And it makes our bed upon the porch
Under starlight’s silver torch
And it stays up when I can’t sleep
‘Cause it knows I’ve got a plan to keep//
This house
Is going to take the fall for me
While I walk away free
While I walk away free
While I walk away free//
This house
Has seen it all done before
Had a hundred people through its door
And it knows we’re not getting young
But it wants our song to be sung
And it’s sad that we’ve got to go
Though I told it we’ll be back, I know
And I hope it will be standing still
This house upon the hill//
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9. |
Out Of Range
05:44
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10. |
Oldest Trick
03:34
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The Oldest Trick
Gonna take more eyes than the eyes that you have in your head
To see what’s happening gonna take more teeth
Than those in your mouth to chew it all down
Gonna take more brains than the brains that you have in your skull
To find the answers ‘cause these days information stinks
There’s enough lies here to fool the Sphinx//
The newest version of the oldest trick
It’s been working since they wrote that book
And you say that it makes you sick
But not before that it made you look//
Gonna take more words than the words that can roll off your tongue
To express that there is a way better than this to be free
Gonna take more hands than the hands that grow on your arms
To chip away the tired veneer
It’s thick as a myth
You don’t know what you’re messing with//
The newest version of the oldest trick
It’s been working since they wrote that book
And you say that it makes you sick
But not before that it made you look//
Well, it started so long ago with
Just a few rich men they
Had to protect what they had, what they had but the
Problem with freedom is
Everyone wants some and
If all are equal than the poor might get mad
So they found enemies, built up mythologies
To keep the people from snooping around
It worked so well we can no longer tell
Where the truth turns to rust who to kill who to trust//
The newest version of the oldest trick
It’s been working since they wrote that book
And you say that it makes you sick
But not before that it made you look//
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11. |
Shiver
03:42
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Shiver
Lock the door my one son
Soon it will be all done
They’ll be coming for me shortly
There’s blood upon the streets tonight
You should know I’ve done no crime
But this will be the last time
We can sit by the fire
And I can tell you what you need to learn//
I shiver ‘cause it’s understood
Shiver when the day is good
Shiver at the very sight
Shiver ‘cause I know I’m right//
You’re young but you’re able
To put food upon the table
Now your mother will need you
Your sister won’t understand
And in the years that follow
If you’re lost and hollow
Remember why they stole me
Because they couldn’t take my soul//
And I shiver for the love we give
Shiver for the life we live
Shiver when I look at you
Shiver ‘cause you’ll make it through//
Don’t carry ‘round the weight
Of a vengeful hate
Soon you’ll become the ones
For whom we sit and wait//
Hear the slow clock ticking
Like a trigger clicking
Footsteps in the alley
The wolves are upon our door
And your tears flow free
But don’t fear for me
You’ll be my keeper
A ghost is what they’ll get//
And I shiver at the very thought,
Shiver ‘cause it’s all we’ve got
Shiver when the sky turns black
And I shiver
‘Cause I won’t be back
I shiver ‘cause I won’t be back
Shiver’ cause I won’t be back
I shiver ‘cause I won’t be back//
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12. |
Best Of Me
04:15
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Best of Me
If today I’m not myself
Far off in some distant place
And I cannot seem to give
I know you see it in my face
If I could I would explain
Why I don’t feel right in my skin
And though you give me all you can
It’s hard for me to take it in
No, I’m not fine
But I’m not broken//
Go ahead, forget the rest of me
I love it when you get the best of me
If I was bad I never meant to be
I loved it when you got the best of me
Will you know just what you are to me
I love it when you get the best of me
Everyday is a long-gone memory
I love it when you get the best of me//
Lately I’ve been short on grace
Like my train jumped off the track
As soon as I hang up the phone
I wish that I could take it back
Sometimes the hours aren’t enough
For all I think I need to do
Though I only have two hands
I’ll grow a hundred more for you
‘Cause this is not me
It’s my shadow//
Go ahead, forget the rest of me
I love it when you get the best of me
If I was bad I never meant to be
I loved it when you got the best of me
Will you know just what you are to me
I love it when you get the best of me
Everyday is a long-gone memory
I love it when you get the best of me//
I push away and you leave
I want to chase you down but I won’t
The poison that you know, sometimes
Is stronger than the cure that you don’t//
Last night I woke up in a sweat
From dreaming that you left for good
So much I had not told you yet
Though I always knew I should
It’s like sand inside my mouth
Shards of glass stuck in my throat
It’s beautiful to rise above
Too easy just to stay afloat//
Go ahead, forget the rest of me
I love it when you get the best of me
If I was bad I never meant to be
I loved it when you got the best of me
Will you know just what you are to me
I love it when you get the best of me
Everyday is a long-gone memory
I love it when you get the best of me
And if it takes up my last energy
I love it when you get
And please take this as my apology
I love it when you get
‘Cause everyday is just a memory
I love it when you get the best of me
I love it when you get the best of me//
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Chris Velan Montréal, Québec
Montreal singer-songwriter and producer, Chris Velan, has always been crossing borders with his brand of world music-
influenced, singer-songwriter pop. Drawing comparisons to the smart, genre-mixing writing of Neil Finn, Nick Lowe and Paul Simon, Velan's
latest album, “Amateur Hour”, will be released September 14th with touring to follow.
... more
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