Get all 13 Short Hand releases available on Bandcamp.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of stir that mule up, Fourth Peter, Third Peter, Short Life, ill fish, The Leaves, Head Full, Punk Heart, and 5 more.
1. |
Night Sky
02:36
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Night sky
Are you tired
Of our pleading eyes
Begging you why?
Night sky
Night sky
You ever tried
Even just once
To just say Hi?
Night sky
Daylight
You lie
You never show nothing
You don’t even try
Daylight
Daylight
No sign
Of proof on the left
Or proof on the right
Daylight
Night sky
No dice
Your own starlight’s
Is just one firefly
Nice try
Night sky
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2. |
Black in Beijing
03:38
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I kept my head down low
Though I knew you could go
You kept your head down lower
I knew but didn’t know
And I’m sure it’s black in Tucson
And I bet it’s black in Milan
And I know it’s black in Muncie
And probably black back in Beijing
You in a shadow made of wood
You stepped from where you stood
Me in a shadow made of smoke
Just trying to clear my throat
And I know it’s black when I breathe
And I know it’s black when I think
And I know it’s black when I sing
That it’s black back in Beijing
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3. |
The Whole Day Weeping
03:46
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Sometimes I spend the whole day weeping cause of the way
When it came down it came down so hard
Sometimes it’s like a faucet other times it’s just this awful
Feeling like a casket in the yard
And the space inside my heart where the sinews pull apart
Makes a groan before you hear it pop
And the lungs where my air curls like knotted hair
Seem to shiver, shrink and then stop
Sometimes I spend the whole day weeping cause of the way
Your eyes just got madder and madder
I think about their glow but like a drunk coward down below
I can’t climb a single rung of the ladder
And the love we used to know rose to the edges of the boat
And the sky as we sailed was free
and life we couldn’t find is like the life we left behind
Both napping in the cradle of the deep
Sometimes I spend the whole day weeping cause of the way
Life is so much different than art
The way we try to do it, the way we muddle our way through it
Like we couldn’t but then we suddenly start
A traveler in the wood is lost in a foggy hood
Of darkness like a soon to be dead monk
And the horse I want to ride is pulled in from the outside
And is sleeping in the bottom bunk
Sometimes I spend the whole day weeping cause of the way
The night crawls over my face
With my hand over my eyes when I try to socialize
I find I’m walking in a Nothing Parade
And the way you know defeat when you’re fighting in the street
Is the way that a lion knows how to yawn
In a quick, biting instant all the silly drama’s finished
And you know what you know from now on
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4. |
Dead Horse
03:22
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Of course, of course,
I’m riding a dead horse
And of course, I’m way off course.
Of course, of course
You were better, I was worse
Of course, of course, of course.
Of course, it’s dirt
The way I dig my hurt
In a hole, I pretend I was wronged
And of course, the sting
In everything I sing
Is a lie disguised as a song
Of course, it’s wrong
To act inside a song
Like everything too late was too soon
And course, it’s not fair
I’m not carrying my share
Packing just what fits in a tune
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5. |
Temptation Jesus
03:50
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God says to me “please wear these clothes”
But I say “I don’t think I will.
I’d rather just hang out like this.”
I say to God “please let me alone,”
but he says, “I don’ think so.
I like fucking with people like Job.”
hey, make it pay, it’s just temptation, thank you Jesus
hey, make it okay, it’s just temptation, thank you Jesus
I sit around with Eve, in my dreams,
Watching TV and making love.
God doesn’t seem to do anything.
I say to Eve “could you get me a beer?”
But god says that I shouldn’t drink.
But then he gives me a wink.
“listen,” I say, like he’s not even there,
“why give us the choice at all?”
Because by now I’m sorta pissed.
He says, “okay” pushing his glasses up,
“why don’t you show me how.”
But I say, “but what’s the point now?”
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6. |
High Maintenance
03:51
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So I think I might be right
But then later in the night
Alone in the basement I’m a mess
My thoughts like little tramps
Moving in and out of camp
Taking chances with every breath
I’m part engineer
And part rabid bear
And she’s just trying to take a bath
A blast of frigid air
Cut glass and rigid stares
And she wants to saw me in half
And she cries
Though I try
I’m high maintenance
And even I
Wonder why
I’m high maintenance
She says, babe,
Something’s gonna have to change
I might find myself afraid
Leading a deep dark parade
Pacing in the attic like a ghost
If there’s some new hassle
With the new castle
I’ll find the crocs for the moat
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7. |
Low Beneath the Ground
04:00
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8. |
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Somewhere on a long phone call
A woman is almost done talking
Somewhere in the pauses
She is already jogging
And when she hangs up there’s a panic
What if her voice is just too thin?
In the end it’s the same thought
Again and again and again
I imagine in some churches
There are paintings on the wall
Of fast food restaurants and oligarchs
And women who are twelve feet tall
But in real life it’s just Jesus
With his beard and his droopy chin
And in the end it’s the same show
Again and again and again
The course of human history
Doesn’t fit inside a sedan
And the highway of human misery
Is paved with actual human hands
And while there’s no explanation
For all the very full minivans, man
In the end it’s the same story
Again and again and again
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9. |
No Blue Bird
03:06
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Destiny ain’t no bluebird
Destiny ain’t the shade on the beach
Destiny ain’t something to go looking for
Destiny ain’t something to reach
Destiny didn’t make the phone calls
Destiny didn’t buy a wedding gown
Destiny didn’t make you go away
and destiny didn’t keep you around
destiny ain’t no bluebird
destiny ain’t the hope of a new town
destiny’s promises seem stupid
after destiny lets you down
destiny wasn’t the depression
destiny wasn’t me telling myself lies
destiny didn’t make the hellos
destiny didn’t make the goodbyes
destiny ain’t no bluebird
destiny ain’t a sermon to preach
destiny ain’t something to hope for
destiny aint something you need
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10. |
Put the Knife Down
03:41
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I thought I’d earned respect
But it seems I’m still in debt
And yet and yet and yet and yet
Put the knife down
No father of a girl I’d see
Ever thought that much of me
It seems I’m not an old man’s dream
Put the knife down
There’s no money in my body, man
No business in my busy hands
No hourglass of golden sand
Put the knife down
If not the air and solid ground
If not my heart and human sounds
If not the darkness all around
Put the knife down
I thought I’d passed the test
Thought I’d aced, nothing less
But still it seems I’m a mess
Put the knife down
I thought I was out of breath
But it seems I’m not just yet
I wouldn’t guess, I wouldn’t bet
Put the knife down
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11. |
Thinking of You
03:21
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Whatever you say
Whatever you plan
Whatever you confess
Wherever you stay
Wherever you stand
Whatever you think is best
And if in a valley of shadows
The moon’s breath is too blue
If you wanna know what I’m thinking
I’ll be thinking of you
Whoever you love
Whoever you kiss
Whoever drops from your skies
However you leave
However you miss
However the light in your eyes
And what happens in the afterlife
Ain’t nobody’s got any proof
But know that If I’m still thinking
I’ll be thinking of you
Whenever the time
Whenever you call
Whenever you feel the sun
You make it chime
You make it all
You make the universe run
And above the tallest of trees
In a sky as wide as the truth
If you wanna know what I’m thinking
I’ll be thinking of you
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12. |
Pain Tolerance
04:16
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Everybody’s got their own pain tolerance
Mine is low when the pain is low
But it’s high when the pain kicks in
Everybody breaks at one moment or another
You raise your eyes from the sunset
And the sky is a thick black leather
For love
Everybody finds a few minutes in the dark
When just as you start to drift off
A verb stiffens in your heart
Everybody lies to themselves now and then
And they weep and they wail and they tear their clothes
Like Joseph for Benjamin
And for love
Everybody’s got a certain truly weak spot
A place that if you touch a touch
The pains slides into a slot
Everybody plays a game with no one else
You always win but all you win
Is whatever you tell yourself
For love
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13. |
Muddy Waters Record
04:03
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No one likes being a junkie, love
Except some junkies like it some
I never cared how sick I was
You were always the one
So get on a roll and roll to me
Like an extension cord
And I’ll get on a roll and roll to you
Like a Muddy Waters record
When I met your dad, I said, Too bad, dad
Now she is coming with me
When I met you mom, I said, Lordy, mom,
Say goodbye to your darling baby
Under picnic skies, under burned out moons
Under dark so hard to see
We could hold out our guns and hold out our hands
At every all-night pharmacy
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Short Hand Muncie, Indiana
Short Hand figures that it's easier to learn to play an instrument than it is to find someone who can play it. He also figures that it's easier for him to do the writing, recording, mixing, artwork, and anything else that might need to be done. In the end, a set of sounds collect themselves into different shapes one might call "albums." Some sound like this and some sound like that. ... more
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