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. |
Stir that Mule Up
02:56
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stir that mule up, man
you better stir that mule up, son
stir that mule up
make it run, make it run
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2. |
Shadow Casts a Shadow
04:01
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We were just about to bolt
And we stood by the door
when the alarm went off on
The famous fifth floor
The gold bracelet
That hung from your wrist
Gave away the plot
And the plot twist
After the back ally opened
After the nuns, the meek
The widows and the orphans
We slid down the chutes
With arms criss-crossed across our chests
Stiff as little cigerettes
And that’s when I knew the truth
That’s when I saw my own shadow
Cast a shadow
That’s when I saw my own shadow
Cast a shadow (ain’t that the truth?)
As if in centuries before
In some cursed civil war
We answered questions with
Wet slippery battle gore
It was always a plan
No matter how it seemed
And blood ran down
Our faces like kerosene
And despite the warnings
From the county health department
Despite the letters from a certain
Boarded up basement
Despite raised eyebrows
and nervous coughs
We quickly took off into the dark
And that’s when I knew the truth
That’s when I saw my own shadow
Cast a shadow (ain’t that the truth)
That’s when I saw my own shadow
Cast a shadow (ain’t that the truth)
And tired as I am of taping
Knives to my boots,
Tired as I am of the bootless truth,
There’s a car in the lot
Out of gas and no
gas can in the back
no one to ask for gas
In a barn with a whole bunch
Of ladders around
In a loft in a barn
with the beams and the
Bird sounds
Somehow the future unrolled like
A spool of twine
Your lips rose up to mine
And that’s when I knew the truth
That’s when I saw my own shadow
Cast a shadow (ain’t that the truth)
That’s when I saw my own shadow
Cast a shadow (ain’t that the truth?)
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3. |
Beard Pistol
03:50
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I was standing on the outside looking inside the exit
when he stumbled out the door with a beard as big as Texas
I was lower than most with my especially lowly story
but I wasn't as low as I was about to go
He was mumbling something funny about his cousin and his sister
It was so much like Sunday school that I didn't even listen
he said, I can tell you need a friend and I need one more
this was right outside Rosetta's Liquor store
Just then a passing cop car split the sidewalk like Moses
he said just keep walking slowly, man, don't look back or they will notice
but I looked back and I noticed they were looking back at us
and all this looking and noticing was making me nervous
it turns out his sister knew my second step cousin Sandy
from the third or fourth grade at the Lost Cause Elementary
and when we turned round the corner he said, Run! and man, we ran
down the alley past the abandoned taco stand
that's when he reached deep inside his western face hair
and pulled out a beard pistol all silver in the moon glare
and he pointed it over at me and I pulled up a manhole cover
and I jumped down here like love jumps in a lover.
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4. |
Problem with Authority
03:29
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It’s not the smart thing
It’s not the wise move
It’s not a good strategy
It’s my problem with authority
I say take this
I say take that
By the time I was three
It’s my problem with authority
And I could guess how I got it
And I’d probably be right
You’d guess that I’m sorry
But I still want to fight
It’s like a halo
Or a storm cloud
Hovering well above me
It’s my problem with authority
If it’s not this
It’s some other
It’s a sister and a brother
It’s my problem with authority
I say one word
I say two words
I say just what I mean
It’s my problem with authority
I could sleep in the shadow
I could stand in the light
I can’t stand for a handshake
But I’ll stand up to fight
It’s so obvious
Such an elephant
With such a long memory
It’s my problem with authority
Not the smart move
Not the wise play
Not a good strategy
It’s my problem with authority
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5. |
Hell Sunshine
03:35
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It’s hard sometimes when you really think about it
It’s hard sometimes when you really start to doubt it
It’s hard sometimes when you very much so got it
It’s hard when you don’t got it all
It’s shade one day as bleak as a casket
It’s hard inside the bottom of a basket
One mouth opening just wide enough to ask it
Why it’s gray like a freezer door
Hell sunshine
Hell sunshine
It’s hard sometimes the universe so awesome
It’s hard sometimes the universe so awful
It’s hard sometimes the universe so costly
It’s hard to love the universe at all
You wake up the sky hard as a log
You go down the hardness surrounded by fog
All around the wound humming with salt
The wound humming a chalky black scab
Hell sunshine
Hell sunshine
It’s hard when you’ve really got it
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6. |
Wine Dark Sea
03:31
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The stars look down
And our heads look up
The heart gets thin
While the skin gets tough
We wave our faults
Like a tree waves leaves
And the waves grow wild
On the wine-dark sea
Wine-dark sea
wine-dark sea
Wide and deep and uneasy
There is no sail
there is no breeze
You just slip your oars into
The wine-dark sea
Each kiss, each hat
Each tit for tat
The night it walks
And the day it naps
We drop our dreams
And we hope they don’t sink
Like a stone anchor
In the wine-dark sea
For each door that locks
There’s a cursed lost key
For each blasphemy
A whole other wine-dark sea
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7. |
Dark Wool Hood
03:44
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When I was young and someone else
I met an even younger self
Stumbled on a lost cause
Ran to it, shoes off
When I finally had to sit
I got what anyone might get
Found my wrong worse
Than shadows in a Trojan horse
And it’s never good
To have so many wants
Like everything you don’t
It’s a dark wool hood
And it’s not a good call
To live without the guts
To admit what’s up
Is what’s always gonna fall
So it seemed a dream
Was just about everything
Spending stupid nights and days
Laid up in Plato’s cave
Face of air and head so wise
It could only theorize
Ideas about home
Ideas about bones
And you know it’s just me, man
Walking up the street, man
Coming up on you slow, man
I’m not really doing nothing, man
You know it’s just me
Coming back home again
Crawling back home again
like a lost, meth-head friend
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8. |
Presently
03:24
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Too many times there’s a nurse at a hospital
With a patient who’s not patient with a nurse (no matter how hospitable)
Too many times there’s a Mormon at the door
And, you know, too many times with Mormons there’s always two more
Too many times a baby parachute in the oven only opens
When a flute like a flare gun shoots, but till then, nothing.
Too many times a song made of mud
Is stuck in a throat as full as a jug
Too many times a letter up for auction
No never, no always, no rarely, no often
I should shut my mouth for an instant
I should shut my mouth for a second
I should shut my mouth for a minute
And I’m gonna do so in a minute
Too many times an alien abduction
So quick it neatly fits inside the smallest punctuation
Too many times a faded light in the bedroom
Sweeps through the house like an aluminum dust broom
Too many times a board game and a cheese plate
Too many times an olive in a straw
Like a raisin in a thin grape
Too many times a fishy situation which becomes
Much worse in the name of nutrition
Too many times a researcher and a critic
Too many times a magic little bullet bullet
Too many times a magic little bullet bullet
I should shut my mouth for an instant
I should shut my mouth for a second
I should shut my mouth for a minute
I’m gonna do so presently
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9. |
Ms. Understood
03:29
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Sometimes it’s a problem when she looks beyond
And sees the clouds waving above like magic wands
The spell they cast ain’t the spell they should
All the spells, Ms. understood
A change in a tone of voice
She’ll dance for a chance and she’ll grope for a choice
On the radio the static sure sounds good
All the songs, Ms. understood
And despite the short words that cut into bone
Despite the long knives that we sharpen on stone
She’s managed to stand just where she stood
Hands on her hips, Ms. Understood
Days turn over one wheel at a time
Nights roll under street lights and stop signs
The world burns just like a piece of wood
All the fires, Ms. Understood
Smoke in her eye’s, Ms. Understood
And the winner is Ms. Understood
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10. |
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New flag of Billy Bragg, soaring up over the courtroom
New flag of Billy Bragg, high and never hung up too soon
And when I hop on my bike
And I pedal off into the night
A new flag of Billy Bragg is like a streetlight guiding me home
New flag of Billy Bragg, soaring up over the courtroom
New flag of Billy Bragg, high and never hung up too soon
And while I’m shopping with my grocery list
My cart collides with a certain socialist
A new flag of Billy Bragg rises like a balloon
New flag of Billy Bragg, soaring up over the courtroom
New flag of Billy Bragg, high and never hung up too soon
And when clouds block out the sun
Like a silencer on a gun
A new flag of Billy Bragg is sweeping the sky like a broom
New flag of Billy Bragg, soaring up over the courtroom
New flag of Billy Bragg, high and never hung up too soon
And I know the world can’t really be one
Until we’ve really finally begun
Under a new flag of Billy Bragg waving high high high high
New flag of Billy Bragg, soaring up over the courtroom
New flag of Billy Bragg, high and never hung up too soon
And I know I’m gonna love it
When it’s stretched out high above us
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11. |
Somewhere Bob Wills
04:28
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I stood on the seam
Directly in between
A sky impossible blue
A land impossible green
Somewhere Bob Wills
Somewhere Bob Won’t
Somewhere clouds are just words
Written in a new font
You rose from the sea
From a flower a bee
A full sail from
A somewhat moderate breeze
Somewhere Bob Wills
Somewhere Bob Won’t
Somewhere the wind
Blows through the nest of a hornet
We rode a big boat
Drunk from port to port
The days were dark and long
And the nights were bright in short
And the sun just sets
Or the sun just dawns
Or the sun just like a lightbulb
Turns off and then turns back on
Somewhere Bob Wills
Somewhere Bob Won’t
Somewhere a feather is the only
Thing that counts
Somewhere a bus
Is turning south
Somewhere will wills
And won’t wants out
Somewhere there ain’t
No Bob Wills sitting on no couch
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12. |
Bubbles in Wine
02:59
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Bubbles in wine
Bubbles in beer
Bubbles in my mind
When you are not here
When I close my eyes
I can nearly disappear
Yeses in the sand
No’s in the mud
And the brains
And the blood
When it’s dry it’s famine
When it’s wet it’s flood
Love is high tide
Love is low tide
Love is valleys
A million miles wide
Love makes hay in the morning
Love says “hey, babe” at night
I’m gonna drink
And drink and drink
And drink and drink
I’m gonna stagger in my sleep, like big Willie
And I’m gonna wake up and weep
Days go slow
Years go fast
There is always a first
And a last
I’m short in the future
But I’m very tall in the past
Gonna lay this head
On some unfortunate river bed
I’m gonna dream about sleeping
And not wake up till I’m dead
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13. |
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Your whole body is just like a lightbulb
And we all got to find our own way
And I ain’t gonna say a thing about that babe
And we all got to find our own way
And I ain’t gonna say a thing about that babe
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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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