Get all 14 Short Hand releases available on Bandcamp.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Red Tigers, stir that mule up, Fourth Peter, Third Peter, Short Life, ill fish, The Leaves, Head Full, and 6 more.
1. |
Good Enough
04:00
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I'm a wake that leaves a boat, dear.
I a thing that floats.
I’m a piece of silverware
The Ezra Pound you know.
If your life is fluted wrist bones,
If your life is cursed.
The life you lead is so much better
Than the life you don't.
And if in my whole life time
I never am good enough,
I've had the guts to change my luck,
It's not the luck to change enough.
I'm a telephone of love.
I am a plane of hope.
I'm the drug you never take.
I’m Edgar Allen Poe.
If the story in the dark
Is a piece of coal,
I am a raven in a shark,
A tooth that won't let go.
I'm a ghost of Sunday lore.
I'm the gin you drink.
I'm the water you've never had,
The hope that’s in the sink.
If your life is double takes,
If you life is single dreams.
The life you live is so much greater
Than the life you think.
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2. |
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You get “The best of the Swing Years,"
The record, from her grandmother.
Who gets drunk and falls down in the afternoon,
Everybody thinks she's had a stroke.
But she hasn't had a stroke, yet.
And she is at work and a body jerks, a neck decides
Who is hung and who isn't hung or drunk, yet.
And what's it matter if she's really negative, she's not,
And you know it.
And what's it matter if I am being optimistic, I'm not,
And I know it.
And she is at work and a body jerks, the neck decides
Who is hung,
And the need to rework is in escapable, the endless
possibilities,
The possibilities are endless.
You get the best of the wet years, the dream
From her bare waste.
She weaves the weft of her string bikini,
With the warp. It's natural horse – sense.
It's the best of the swing years.
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3. |
Super Plush Hotel
02:56
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Hey if you know, somewhere to go,
I could spend my whole life running.
Hey if you know, a home away from home,
I can't spend my whole life running.
I know something new is coming.
Hey if you know, a hope below my hope,
I can't spend my whole life lonely.
Hey if you know, a soul inside a soul,
I can't spend my whole life lonely
I know something new is coming.
Hey if you know.
Hey if you know, a super plush hotel,
I could spend my whole year with you.
Hey if you know, a lock upon the door,
I could spend my whole life with you.
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4. |
Number One
03:41
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After taking pleasure in our marriage, thus far,
And feeling the ability to measure
My number one next to your number one.
Yards and yards of minor scars,
Both our in – laws and all their flaws.
My number one next to you’re your number one.
Jobs and jaws, alligator clips,
airplane trips, hip haircuts.
My number one next to your number one.
Ain’t that good?
Songs for you, songs for us, us, us I,
My small life, my small child, my wife,
My number one next to your number one.
Tell me, ain’t that good?
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5. |
A Two-Part Word
03:44
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(He said)
Driving down to my baby's house,
I'm hoping there's nothing there to find.
But, there ain't nothing there that can ease this worried mind.
Leaning into a truck window, I see my baby from behind.
There are soft round curves and misery in my mind.
Heartbreak is a two– part word, one half loves, the other half hurts.
Half of my heart is a heart torn in half and half of my heart is worse.
(She said)
I didn't mean to cheat on soft cotton sheets,
I didn't mean to look into his eyes,
But you didn't look in mine, if you had, hurt is what you’d find.
One lonely bird in a lonely sky, one question I didn't ask.
One heart in her chest feels his chest on her back.
I don't want to be worse.
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6. |
Placing A Bet
03:46
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I used to think there was something magic,
Like a miniature javelin,
Stuck in my mouth,
So I placed a bet, placed a bet,
And pulled it out.
I used to think there was something static,
Something static,
Was stuck in my eye,
So I placed a bet, placed a bet,
And told a lie.
And what's it matter, what anyone's after?
The house it will stack, dollar upon dollar.
And what's the good in acting like a saxophone?
The moon is not a jazz musician’s mouth.
I used to think the earth was
smooth as gingerbread,
Fine, like milk on a stone.
So I placed a bet, placed a bet,
I placed a bet and found a home
In your hand.
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7. |
Saying Goodbye
03:23
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If you say goodbye, baby, goodbye
It doesn't matter who cried or didn't cry.
If you say goodbye, baby, goodbye,
i\It doesn't matter who tried or didn't try.
If you say goodbye, baby, goodbye,
It doesn't matter who lied or didn't lie.
If you say goodbye, baby, goodbye,
Here I am, knee– deep in shit again.
Baby, goodbye.
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8. |
Sit Right Down
03:34
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I've had trouble sleeping,
I've been thinking of your toes,
I know people know better than to notice,
But the morning is cold and dull.
I'm going to sit right down,
Sit right down,
Sit right down, and write you a letter.
Come worse, baby, come better.
I'm going to sit right down and write you a letter.
Lately, I can't tell the difference,
Between the darkness and the light,
I know that people know better than to notice,
But the morning is just out of sight.
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9. |
Smuggled Love
03:43
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The things I couldn't say
Are a thin box of nails,
I was more than just awake.
Things change and they change.
Change, change, change.
But you left me no, you left me no, left me no you.
A family in a car.
A tent under the moonlight.
A sleeping bag crammed with hope.
The things you cannot name.
The words you cannot speak.
The dreams you can't dream.
A real democracy
Delivering a suitcase,
Filled with smuggled love.
A hollow brass hinge.
A hidden compartment.
Anything you cannot detect (not yet).
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10. |
Everybody Knows
04:20
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Is your body made of miracles?
Is your body made of light?
Is your body made of miracles?
Is your body made of light?
Everybody knows, there is something easier,
Everybody knows, there's something sweeter,
Everybody knows, there something better to do
With your life, than just hang around and die,
In your life all you got to do is,
Trouble is sleeping.
Trouble is sleeping.
Trouble is sleeping.
Trouble is sleeping.
Hope and hope in morning.
Hope and hope in noon.
Hope and hope in evening.
Hope and hope and hope.
Put a drop of love
In a pool of yes, and yes, and yes,
The best thing in the world.
The best thing in your chest is that - -
Hello Oxygen.
Hello all you molecules of air.
I am breathing you in.
I am breathing you in.
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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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