Get all 6 Bryan John Appleby releases available on Bandcamp.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Underwater Easy Breathing, Domino / The Face (demo versions), Domino / The Face, The Narrow Valley, Fire on the Vine, and Shoes for Men and Beasts.
1. |
Noah's Nameless Wife
04:01
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Oh the gosling looked up to the goose and the gander
Said, I don’t have a feather to fly
I’m the unfortunate three of a kind
When the flood finally came, it was Noah’s nameless wife
That looked out from the window as the city sank
And the rooftop children cried
When her feet hit the ground, she could still hear the sound
When her feet hit the ground, she could still hear the sound
Ringing in her ears
And it went …
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2. |
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You fill my cup and I fill yours
You fill my cup and I fill yours
You sang over me, with a tambourine in your hand
About the rider, the horse, and the land
You sang over me, with a tambourine in your hand
About the rider, the horse, and the land
You play my notes and I play yours
You play my notes and I play yours
You sang over me, with a silver bell in your hand,
About your dreams in the morning of a wide and ancient land
You sang over me with a silver bell in your hand
About your visions in the morning of a wide and ancient land
I will be the watchman on your wall
You will be the watchman on my wall
I will be the watchman on your wall
You will the watchman on my wall
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3. |
Backseat
04:16
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You were hiding in the backseat of my Lincoln
Underneath a blanket with your head against the door
And I was already halfway through Ohio
When I heard your soft voice singing to a song on the radio
I crept out in the darkness of the morning
Past our sleeping father, a cold cigar lying at his feet
He was surrounded by his books down in the parlor
Filled with all the words that he had wanted us to read and know
But this is not an old American story
About the rugged men who came out from the east
And I am not some outlaw from the Badlands
Or a gambler running tables in New Orleans
So I put you on a bus back to Boston
With some money in your shoe for a meal
And I turn my car in the other direction
Just hoping that I hear a note from the backseat
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4. |
Boys
07:05
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Boys from the street, slum childs come in here together
Boots wrapped in rope and wire
And black hands in cold leather
But I am not one of them. No, I am not one of them
But they all know me by name. They all know me by name
Men in the aisles, closed eyes and gold dust on their fingers
They say soon God will come, so hold your tongue
Don’t let your vices linger
They say Elijah was carried off,
caught up in a chariot made of flame
So we too will ride in cars that shine
If you name it, it’s yours to claim
But I am not one of them. No, I am not one of them
But they all know me by name. They all know me by name
Girls from the corner, coming from the Corinthian Quarters
That’s my place on Jackson
The Preacher and the Politician, the Working Man
They come looking to me, they come asking
I know soon God will come and even if I run
His horsemen bound to find me
He’ll ask me why I’ve done the things I’ve done
And I’ll tell Him you made the mouths I feed
And I’ll say, I am not one of them
I am not one of them
But He’ll turn to me and say,
Oh, I don’t know you by name!
No, I don’t know you by name!
And I’ll think to myself,
You never did make known to me Your ways
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5. |
Sprout
04:19
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She came in the night on the ninth of October
They looked my in my red eyes and said she won’t last
We all knew that she should’ve slept until mid-December
When it comes to the lot I have learned, I can’t count on the cast
That night a vision came
At the same time both vivid and vague
Of a father looking on
As he burns to the ground the house that he made
When I woke, I had been slain in the spirit of reason
Baptized in the rolling dark waters of doubt
‘Cause I’m told it’s Your will to withhold, but it feels like treason
A rain cloud refusing to pour in a season of drought
That night a vision came
At the same time both vivid and vague
Of a father looking on
As he burns to the ground the house that he made
And I heard him say
It was well on its way
Just look how it swayed
How it crumbled and caved
As the crimson glow of the fire caught his eye
I could tell he could hear, as well could I
That along with the crackle and growl of the fire
Came a call quite small from inside--
I’m in here alive
But now, a child is born, she is bent but not broken
A spark, a seed and a sprout
A miracle or catastrophe
This child who’s orphaned her family
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6. |
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I have come into your house
You say there’s something I should know by now and I vow to hear you out
But as you speak, how I feel the sting
Like the hackles on a dog’s back I rise up to meet
The words you spoke in the middle of the night
They fall heavy like a hammer on my mind
You are the light in the darkness, you’re the fire on the vine
Oh my son, I have known your ways
But I’m the gale that’ll rattle your gate; you shudder, I make you shake
You will find what you did not seek
A road less narrow, a way not steep
Oh my child
Don’t you lose your place
Remember my table
Remember my face
And the things I told you in the middle of the night
They fall heavy like a hammer on your mind
I am the light in the darkness, I’m the fire on the vine
You turn away
I’m left alone
Then came a sign
Then came the Revelation
And I said,
You, you will not dig a hole in me
You will not chop down my tree
Or hold me under the water
No and you, you will not dig a hole in me
You will not chop down my tree
Or hold me under the water
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7. |
The Lake
04:03
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You said, don’t come by, I do not feel like talking
Not to you or anybody else
You write their names with a trembling, ragged finger
Upon the pane glass blinded by the frost
And the cold pulls you down
It pulls you down
Pulls you down, down, down
When I found you, your face it was not moving
Your eyes are ravaged, you’re the land beneath a plague
Wife and daughter caught weeping out on the water
When the storm fell heavy on the lake
And the waves pulled them down
Pulled them down
Pulled them down, down, down
But my brother, don’t let your lantern darken
Don’t be afraid for them
For oh my friend, there is nothing on the other side
We will grow old and plant for them a garden
When the growing’s done we’ll plunge like a stone to join them in the tide
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8. |
Glory
03:52
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Glory, I have known you my whole life
In the morning, you come in gentle as a golden vine
Through my window, you fill up the valleys in my sheets. Glory
Glory, I have known you on a black crow night
From my rooftop, shining in the alabaster moonlight
And the rats all scratch in the attic under my feet. Glory
Glory, you are the anvil for my hardened heart
Glory, you’re the only mystery I can see
I have known you as the song that goes before me
And the only one who’ll be there when I’m gone
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9. |
...And the Revelation.
02:57
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I saw a white-haired child, staring out through hollow grey eyes
I saw men that come to early ends, men who flicker, dim, and die
I saw a kerosene skyline from the suburbs of the city on a hill
I heard the clatter of the coin and the yawning of the few that have their fill
And the sun, it is a blister, rising like the dead
I drag my shadow behind me, and I drag my body to the edge of my bed
With my palms pressed to my eyes, I pray this one last time
If you’re someone else I might love you still, but as it is we’re done
Oh and you, you will not dig a hole in me
You will not chop down my tree
Or hold me under the water
No and you, you will not dig a hole in me
You will not chop down my tree
Or hold me under the water
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10. |
Honey Jars
04:08
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I pick up a broken comb
Run it through my thin grey hair
Though I don’t have any plans tonight
I’m not going anywhere
Well, I should’ve seen this coming
Don’t know why I’m surprised
Every vessel on its way down
Takes with it the captain’s life
Though I’m blind, my dear, I see
The parade goes on without me
My body aches, my mind, it weeps
For you, for you
Tonight I’m locked outside my building
Guess I must have lost the keys
So I’ll sit here on the sidewalk
Let the snow fall on my knees
And if I made it to a payphone
I don’t know who I would call
So for now I close my eyes and rest
My crooked back against the wall
I read that old men will see visions
Young men will follow dreams
I believed it when I read it
I see your face in everything
Now your honey jars are frozen
In the window your books have browned
And there’s too much room inside our bed
I think I’ll join you in the ground
Though I’m blind, my dear, I see
Let the chorus sing without me
My body breaks, my mind it sleeps
With you
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11. |
The Road
06:25
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I hold my shoulder tight against the cold that rolls down the road tonight
Though I’ve left the fold, my feet will find a hold
Now I cannot stop
I will not turn around on the road tonight
Though I’ve left your side,
Still I will find, find a way
The holy garment threads apart, the cloth of white is stained
The floor has bowed beneath the weight
The beams now bend and break
No longer can I call a home, the place I’ve known so well
But what may come upon the road, right now I cannot tell
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Bryan John Appleby Seattle, Washington
Bryan Appleby is a singer-songwriter based on the West Coast
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